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Summary Two horses, one 15‐year‐old Arabian gelding and one 10‐year‐old Quarter Horse gelding, presented with a history of marked subcutaneous emphysema. The first case exhibited no external wound, although there was a depression noted on the ventral neck. The second case had a laceration on the ventral aspect of the neck over the trachea. Endoscopic examination revealed both horses to have concurrent dorsal and ventral perforations of the trachea. The horses were managed by placing a short, cuffed, J‐shaped tracheostomy tube in the ventral perforation, while the dorsal perforation healed. The dorsal perforation in the first horse was allowed to heal by second intention, whereas sutures were placed in the dorsal perforation in the second case to reduce the healing time. Both horses were maintained on oral antimicrobial and nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory medications throughout treatment. The dorsal perforation healed after 13 days in the first horse, and 22 days in the second horse. The ventral perforation healed in both horses by second intention following tracheostomy removal, giving a cosmetically acceptable result. In addition to facilitating tracheal healing, the tracheostomy tubes prevented the progression of subcutaneous emphysema, and promoted its resolution.

Summary This article is the first in a three part review series examining glucocorticoid use in treatment of medical conditions and musculoskeletal disorders of the horse. This article provides a review of the structure and function of corticosteroids together with a summary of the available literature pertaining to the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and indications for use of, and adverse effects associated with, glucocorticoids currently available for use by equine veterinarians.

Voriconazole-containing thermogels have potential application in treatment of keratomycosis. Further research is required to evaluate their performance in vivo.

BackgroundThe equine conjunctival microbiota has often been reported to be dominated by Gram‐positive species such as Staphylococcus sp., Bacillus sp., and Corynebacterium sp. However, traditional culture‐based methods can only recover a fraction of the bacterial species present in the sample.ObjectivesThis pilot study aimed at exploring the diversity of the equine conjunctival microbiota using culture‐independent methods.Study designEight horses were included in this study, and only eyes with normal ophthalmic examination (n = 15 eyes) were sampled.MethodsConjunctival biopsies (culture‐independent) were collected, and DNA was extracted from the tissues. Bacterial communities in conjunctival biopsies were characterized by next‐generation sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes. Individual reads were ascribed to operational taxonomic units (OTUs) using BLASTn and Greengenes databases. Species richness, evenness, and Good’s coverage were determined for each conjunctiva‐associated microbial community.ResultsCulture‐independent samples produced a total of 329 bacterial OTUs. The main OTUs identified in the study belonged to the Gram‐negative species Ralstonia mannitolilytica (88.0%), Nicoletella semolina (3.3%), and Pseudomonas tolaasii (1.5%).ConclusionsContrary to previously published data based on culture‐dependent methods, the horse eye microbial community was dominated by Gram‐negative bacteria of the phylum Proteobacteria.